This invention relates generally to the field of exercising equipment, and in particular, it relates to exercising equipment of the type employing a pulley system through which a person lifts a variable weight.
Exercising machines, of the type employing a pulley system to lift a fixed or a variable weight, are well known in the art. Typically, such machines include a mechanism which a person must actuate in opposition to the gravitational pull on the weight in order to develop a particular muscle or group of muscles. Usually, a different mechanism is used to develop each of the different muscles or muscle groups in the body. Accordingly, the common practice is to employ a separate machine for each of the different parts of the body, such as, for example, the arms, the legs, the chest, and the shoulders. Thus, a person who is interested in developing or exercising more than one or two parts of the body must employ several different exercising machines. The use of several different machines is not only costly (due to, for example, the duplication of many components, particularly the weights), but also there is a relatively large floor space requirement, and both of these factors have made it impractical, for the most part, to install such equipment in an individual's home. Thus, use of such equipment usually requires the inconvenience of travelling to a public or private gymnasium or the like, in which such equipment is installed.
It can therefore be seen that there would be great benefit from a device which would provide the functions of several different exercising machines using a relatively small amount of floor space, and which would eliminate or minimize the duplication of like or similar components so as to minimize the cost of such apparatus.